Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 1250 - Taming the Old World - Significance - 3

Lutea stared downward... She focused entirely on her daughter's extended hand.

A heavy, defeated sigh escaped her lips, carrying the weight of a monarch surrendering territory she did not fully comprehend but recognized was permanently lost. Slowly, with profound reluctance, she reached out and grasped Larissa's hand.

Larissa immediately claimed Ren's hand with her free hand too, physically linking the three of them together in a deliberate gesture that left absolutely zero room for diplomatic misinterpretation.

"Mother," she stated clearly. She wielded that trademark logical firmness, completely devoid of drama, relying exclusively on concrete facts.

"It is an established reality that we are going to be a unified family. Ren and I, alongside Luna and Liora. All of this;" she tilted her chin toward the crowded dining hall, encompassing the chaotic gathering and the heavily integrated bloodlines, "is permanent. It is highly advantageous for you to accept this paradigm shift sooner rather than later. It might require significant processing time for you to understand it; that is acceptable. I will exercise patience with you, exactly as I always have, perhaps far more than you ever extended to me if the situation demands it. But be aware that this union is going to materialize, with or without your formal royal blessing."

Lutea formulated no verbal reply. Yet crucially, she did not withdraw her grip. On a deep psychological level, she actually respected, even liked, the unyielding iron in her daughter's will.

"Come," Larissa instructed, guiding Ren directly toward the primary seat at the head of the long wooden table. It was the chair explicitly designated for the master of the estate. The exact coordinate he rightfully deserved.

By deliberately placing Ren in this position that genuinely belonged to him; not an archaic borrowed throne, but the absolute head of a crowded table inside his own sanctuary, surrounded by his loyal people; Larissa successfully closed the loop Ren had been meticulously constructing all afternoon.

Ren finally sat down.

For a long moment, he simply observed the glorious, noisy disaster unfolding right in front of him.

Lykea was aggressively narrating the entire banquet plate by plate with zero filter. Reed was passionately defending his new experimental culinary techniques against Fern's more strict adherence to traditional flavor profiles. Sirius sat quietly beside them, offering a serene, satisfied smile. Selphira and Lutea were currently engaged in an incredibly tense, highly 'diplomatic' conversation strictly reserved for two fiercely proud matriarchs. Victor was casually piling triple the standard caloric intake onto his porcelain plate. Luna and Liora were desperately suppressing a fit of laughter over some private joke. The senior maids were firmly, yet gently restraining Mayo, who had already launched into a somewhat inappropriate comedic routine.

Lin, Wei, and Zhao, alongside the rest of Ren's closest friends, arrived shortly afterward once the perimeter rotation allowed them to swap shifts with the guard girls. Predictably, Min's arrival immediately catalyzed an entirely new vector of absolute chaos the second he teamed up with Mayo.

Yet, despite the overwhelming noise and absolute lack of high aristocratic decorum, Ren realized a profound truth. This specific environment, absolutely not the cold and empty throne room, was exactly what he was bleeding to protect. He had zero interest in safeguarding a vacant chair locked inside a solemn hall.

He wanted to preserve this... The loud banter, the statistically impossible blending of fractured families that brutal warfare, stubborn loyalty, and genuine love had somehow forced together around a single meal. The warm, vibrant chaos of individuals who fiercely cared for one another against all apocalyptic odds.

This dining hall was his true kingdom.

And it was worth every single grueling day of harsh labor, every drop of spilled blood, and every shard of crystal it had cost him.

♢♢♢♢

The following morning guaranteed a harsh return to apocalyptic reality.

Once he finalized the last ethereal injection into the dome, the elite strike force would be required to march directly into offensive maneuvers, remaining as completely undetected as possible.

Since every single hour they surrendered to Selthia was another hour she utilized to breed more and stronger mutants, while the adamantium prison simultaneously suffered compounding tectonic stress along its lateral flanks.

Maintaining absolute stealth was also paramount to prevent the corrupted sovereign from executing a rapid counter-offensive. She currently possessed three distinct tactical options, and every single one of them was highly problematic…

First, she could ambush the Vanguard precisely while they were engaged with their chosen target, dropping her heavy assets on their heads at the lowest energy and worst possible moment.

Second, she could launch a massive assault against the remaining dragon on the opposite end of the continent, exploiting the fact that the Vanguard's primary attention was anchored elsewhere very far.

Or third, she could aggressively strike the capital once again.

With the city's defensive grid severely compromised by the absence of the elite strike team, a coordinated siege would effectively force Ren's forces to sprint back home, demanding a complete abandonment of the offensive campaign.

This unforgiving arithmetic was exactly why they had mapped out their infiltration strategy with such grueling, meticulous detail. The ultimate key to victory was starving Selthia of viable tactical avenues, forcefully locking those doors long before she possessed the intelligence to choose one.

Consequently, first, delaying the march any further was a catastrophic error. The exact second they secured the five-day temporal advantage on the prison walls, they were obligated to deploy instantly to maximize that buffer.

The clock offered zero mercy.

But the previous evening had been a resounding success for almost everyone involved.

They had secured genuine progress… It was a series of small, incremental steps toward a vastly superior domestic dynamic.

Lutea had not offered a full, verbal apology; however, she had remained at the table, she had consumed the meal, and she had genuinely listened to the people around her. Larissa had willingly held her mother's hand. The heavily integrated bloodlines had successfully shared a communal space without a single hostile incident. Nestled right in the middle of a planetary apocalypse, a single night of relative peace was an unimaginable luxury, and every person in that room had possessed the wisdom to exploit it.

That morning, Ren meticulously ran a psychological balance sheet.

He still harbored an intense drive to eventually return Dragarion and Laura to their respective loved ones. He even factored in Leonel, assuming there was still a viable avenue to salvage the corrupted Ashenway, purely for Selphira's sake. He logically understood that resurrecting these specific figures, him and Laura, would inject complications into the current ecosystem. Liora's perpetually absent mother would abruptly reappear inside a family dynamic where Liora had already firmly established her own sovereign identity as the rightful successor.

Nevertheless, these were highly acceptable hurdles that his bright, resilient girl would navigate flawlessly in the future, since then she would be undisputedly the strongest family member thanks to his guidance... Ren made a firm internal vow to ensure that absolutely none of those impending resurrections would ever diminish the profound, escalating authority Liora had rightfully earned within the family structure.

He genuinely desired to assemble the most complete family unit possible. But he would extract every single piece at the optimal time, ensuring the process inflicted zero damage upon the people who were already holding the line.